First, a quick recap of the last week’s episode: Season 3, Ep. 11, “I Ain’t a Judas”, first broadcast Sunday 24 Feb. 2013. The one where Laurie goes to the prison to try to get everyone there to go to Woodbury.
As we open, everyone is getting their heads back together after the low-down dirty rotten surprise attack by Governor Nasty (and the mass zombie-disgorgement from the truck, aka Best Scene in the Whole Series So far).
Helpful Hershel and Increasingly Grown-up and/or Creepy Little Carl tell Alpha Male Again Rick to get his shit together. This is possibly unnecessary, given that the final shot of the previous week’s episode was a close-up of Rick’s narrowed, back-in-charge eyes.
Either way, soon Rick is acting like a real leader again, consulting with Hershel and Daryl. And informing Daryl that he’s responsible for Miserable Son of a Bitch Merle not being a complete prick in future. (Hint: shoot off his jaw, like with the zombies. Mute Merle would be fairly acceptable, and useful, to have around.)
Enter Andrea, offering us a nice opportunity for a recap. Shane: dead. Lori: dead. T-Dog: dead. Hershel’s leg: dead. Baby Judith: alive. For now.
Also dead: Team Rick’s trust of, and friendship with, Andrea, what with her not seeming to know what a piece of work Governor Psycho is. Michonne gives Andrea an extra helping of you-moron, with a side of you-disloyal-friendship-betrayer.
Carol seems a little more kindly-disposed towards Andrea, but maybe not really. Her (very sound) advice is to boink Governor Nutso and then shank him. Andrea returns to Woodbury, carries out Part 1 of the plan, but surprise! fails on Part 2.
Also interesting during this episode:
Glenn is going all Rambo, possibly due to feelings of failure re: protecting Maggie in Woodbury.
A fascinating, relationship-advancing scene between Carl and Daryl. (Caryl anti-shippers can go suck rocks.)
Tyreese and his people show up in Woodbury, having been kicked out of the prison by Crazytown Rick (what does Sane Again Rick have to say about that?). Tyreese et al are (seemingly) all ‘yes, Governor, we’re on your side now.’ Hm.
We see more of Crazy Milton, the governor’s chief lackey, as he assists (on the gov’s orders) Andrea in getting to the prison. Whose side is he really on? I’m thinking, his own. He’ll agree to anything, as long as he thinks it will preserve his life for another day.
We see under Governor Batshitcrazy’s eyepatch. Ew. Yikes, what the hell is he doing with that match, does the eye need cauterised?! Oh, no, he’s checking to see if the (still present) eyeball can perceive any light. Nope, guess not. Aw.
***
Now on to last night’s episode, Season 3, Ep. 12, “Clear”, first broadcast Sunday 3 March 2013. (Here are some stills from it.)
We open with a road trip, which is nice, we’ve been cooped up in the prison for a while now. Hey – aren’t they going to pick up the hitch-hiker? Or – the other two don’t seem to acknowledge him, so maybe he’s one of Rick’s hallucinations. A Rickination.
Rick’s old police station has been cleaned out, no guns. One lonesome bullet. Possibly a hollow-point… are police allowed to use those?
Outside the police station, and on into town… hm… a lot of cryptic messages. A lot of… random ropes? Ah-ha, not so random, they’re part of a very clever set of booby-traps to stop zombies. Even some skateboards for them to slip on! Genius.
What’s that up on the roof? Another living person! Let’s chat! Nope, let’s shoot at each other. Gun battle ensues. Michonne goes up to flush the sniper but there he is, in their midst. More gun battle. Blam! Carl’s first human kill. (Character development! Drink!) Except, no, the guy is wearing a vest, so Carl only gets little character development out of it.
Unwrapping the sniper. Hey! It’s Rick’s radio buddy! Out cold. Lug him upstairs through all his own pitfalls. Uh-oh, more cryptic writing. Radio Buddy is either nuts, or trying not to go nuts.
Nuts. Definitely nuts. Morgan/Radio Buddy is upset that Rick “doesn’t clear”. What is “clear”? Ow, shoulder stab. In proper tv or movie style, it is his left shoulder, high enough not to nick the lung.
Rick and Morgan have a little character-developing (quite a few Drink! opportunities here) guilt-fest as Morgan reams Rick about the radio, and they catch up on who’s alive (not many), who’s dead (Lori, Jenny, Duane). Rick learns that Morgan made some bad decisions that lead to Duane’s death, which seems to spoil any chance he has of making it out of his own personal Crazytown.
9:42 and no Daryl. Just sayin’.
Back to Carl and Michonne, who had gone off for baby supplies. Michonne has a nice bit of character development as she insists on going with Carl, but for reasons other than watching his back – she needs to help him carry the bulky baby crib. Good idea to have the baby in the show, very humanising for everyone. Carl’s confidence is increasing all the time, he delivers a Rick-quoting speech with a lot of swagger.
Slight detour from baby-supply fetching as Carl leads Michonne to a local dive. Battle some indoor zombies to get… a family photograph. And then drop it. Magic Michonne goes back in and fetches it. And brings out a gaudy toy cat. Are we sure this is Michonne?
Now we say good-bye to Morgan, already busy loading his zombie kills onto a gurney to take to be burned, which accounts for the pile of burned bodies we saw after leaving the police station.
Ok so “clear” seems to mean keeping the town clear of zombies. Um, good job, Morgan?
And we’re on the road again. Hm, looks like the hiker was real, and not a figment, seeing as how that’s his body smeared all over the roadside. Is there a big post-apocalyptic rule about not rescuing humans wandering in the wilderness? Is this Rick’s no-new-people rule in action? Very harsh, and very likely to come back and bite him in the ass. Oh well. Thanks for the backpack full of supplies, guy.
Good episode overall, yes? No? What did you think?
Photo from Wikimedia Commons, taken by Pop Culture Geek. The Walking Dead booth at the 2010 Comic-con.
